Manchester United won this Europa League group E match against Real Sociedad,, but not by a great enough margin to overtake the Spanish side as group winners. After Alejandro Garnacho, making his second successive European appearance, sent United into a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute, the visitors required just one more without reply. However, it never came.
That was despite Erik ten Hag shaking up his team in the second half, switching formation and sending Harry Maguire to partner Cristiano Ronaldo in attack. It was a scrambled plan and one that didn’t reap the required rewards. The change in approach, opting for directness, was rather puzzling given United’s dominance and control before the break.
It is therefore on goal difference that United finish as runners-up and thus must face a two-legged knockout tie in February to reach the round of 16. Their possible opponents include Juventus, Barcelona and Ten Hag’s former club, Ajax — no wonder the Dutch manager tried to force the issue late on here, their already packed fixture schedule just got that bit tighter.
The goal that Real Sociedad scored in their 1-0 triumph at Old Trafford when these sides met earlier in the group phase was dubious in the first place — the penalty which Brais Mendez converted came after Lisandro Martinez was judged to have handled the ball inside the penalty area — now it takes on even more importance.
Story of the game
United’s trip to this rain-sodden part of northern Spain started brightly and the night was only 17 minutes old when Garnacho overtook George Best as United’s youngest non-English goalscorer in European competition with a lovely finish. The 18-year-old was given his second successive start in the competition after impressing in the 3-0 win over FC Sheriff last week.
A fine counter-attack was sparked by Bruno Fernandes’ flicked header towards Ronaldo and the Portugal international provided a fine assist for Garnacho’s first senior goal. The Argentinian made no mistake with the finish, firing a powerful shot over Alex Remiro and into the roof of his net.
Given United and Real Sociedad were now level on points and equal on head-to-head results, goal difference was now in play and a two-goal win would have taken United to top spot. Ten Hag had demonstrated his ambitions of achieving the feat in his team selection. The United manager made three changes from Sunday’s Premier League win over West Ham United, with Maguire dropped for Victor Lindelof and Donny van de Beek starting his first game of the season.
The home team were without seven of their regulars having been savaged by injuries, but Imanol Alguacil’s side have remained competitive despite such problems: they sit fifth in La Liga and possessed the best defensive record in the Europa League.
An early United breakthrough hardly signalled the opening of the floodgates, despite the rain, and the visitors failed to have another shot on target after Garnacho’s opener. The goalscorer could have had a second only to slip when taking aim and Ronaldo also sent a lob over Remiro and onto the top of the goal, however the forward appeared to be offside anyway.
David De Gea barely had a save to make prior to parrying Andoni Gorosabel’s volley two minutes before half time, Pablo Marin rushed in to strike the rebound but the United ‘keeper turned away the attempt from a narrow angle. Martinez once again demonstrated his fighting spirit by competing well with the towering Alexander Sorloth to divert a header over the bar.
It was on the hour that Ten Hag mixed things up, sending on Rashford and also replacing Lindelof with Scott McTominay, thus signalling a change of shape to a three-man defence. Yet, the game began to drift away from United and it was the home team who kept manufacturing the chances; Carlos Fernandez becoming the latest to misplace his shots at goal.
On came Maguire…as a striker. Plenty of balls were launched into the area but despite United’s height advantage, they couldn’t keep their composure to make it tell. Rhythm was lost and the issue was forced. Real Sociedad repelled whatever came their way and didn’t let first place out of their hands, despite United’s intentions.
Player of the match: Alejandro Garnacho
The 18-year-old was rewarded for an impressive display against FC Sheriff last week with a second successive Europa League start. He repaid Ten Hag's faith with a bright first half in which he scored the only goal of the contest.
Garnacho's 17th-minute striker saw him overtake George Best as United’s youngest non-English goalscorer in European competition.